'You are wonderful. You have been a lifeline to me' Atherstone Library staff praised by readers

Library customers from across the generations in Atherstone have been full of praise for the services provided by staff during the latest lockdown.

Residents from Atherstone, as well as Polesworth and Coleshill have been in touch with Warwickshire County Council's Library and Information Service to express their gratitude, telling them that their local library has "kept us going through lockdown".

An older customer who regularly uses Atherstone Library's Click & Collect and Staff Select services phoned library staff to tell them that the books are very important to her as she reads constantly because she has insomnia.

She told staff: "You are wonderful. You have been a lifeline to me. You're the only good thing that has happened during lockdown. You're the best thing in my life right now."

Since the start of lockdown, browsing at any library has been suspended, but manylibraries havecontinued toofferClick&Collectand Staff Selectservices.

Library customers can order a selection of booksto collect froma library of their choice - a bit like the 'click and collect' service you can use to buy your shopping.

Customers are contacted by email, phone or post when their book order is ready for collection or they can check their online library account. No appointment is needed to collect the books.

Another regular customer of Coleshill Library emailed the County Council to pass on special praise for one of the library's Customer Service Advisors, saying:

"I'd like to compliment the young man at Coleshill library. He is a delight to deal with, both personally and when I've been in a queue and seen him dealing with an elderly frail customer.

"He is cheerful, warm, efficient, helpful and a compliment to the library. I applaud his excellent service."

Councillor Kam Kaur, Warwickshire County Council's Portfolio Holder for Customer and Transformation said: "Our library staff across the county are receiving these sorts of compliments every day. It is lovely to know that our services mean so much to so many people. Our staff say that it is a pleasure to be able help people during these times.

"I am so proud of all our library staff, who are delivering excellent services day in day out and which are very much appreciated by our residents. I know that they will continue to keep up the good work as all our services follow the roadmap out of lockdown."

Warwickshire's Virtual Library Service is also still available online 24/7. Warwickshire County Council's libraries staff are continuing to work hard behind the scenes to ensure that people still have access to digital books, music and other library material.

BorrowBox, which is described as 'your library in one app', enables people to access library items whenever and wherever they are, allowing users to borrow eBooks and eAudiobooks for free. It is available across most digital devices, including the iPad and Kindle Fire.

All you need to access it for free is your library card number and email address.

To find out more about Click & Collect, Staff Select, BorrowBox and all current library services in Warwickshire, visit the Warwickshire Libraries website.